In the FCS Huddle: Moving out of the shadows

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – Others receiving votes.

For much of the week, those words sound important yet not so important at the same time.

But on Saturdays, some of the others receiving votes in The Sports Network FCS Top 25 force people to take notice of their teams.

They are not just “other” teams.

Some will make it into the Top 25 either sooner or later. Definitely sooner if they continue their impressive starts to the season.

Northeast Conference member Bryant is among the biggest surprises in the FCS considering two of its wins are against CAA Football schools, first Stony Brook to open the season and then Saturday in a 13-10 surprise of No. 23 Maine, the defending champion from the top FCS conference in the East. The Bulldogs had never defeated a CAA team before this season and only one other ranked team (No. 25 Robert Morris in 2010).

Coach Marty Fine’s squad, essentially 51th in the poll when factoring in its vote total, is coming off several disappointing seasons. But Akron transfer quarterback Dalton Easton (548 yards, five touchdowns) is off to a fast start, including a winning TD throw late against Maine, and defensive end Jeff Covitz has the defense playing well. The Bulldogs allowed only a combined 17 points to their two CAA opponents.

Illinois State essentially opened Saturday’s action ranked 44th, but the 2-0 Missouri Valley squad should start to ascend quickly following a 34-15 victory over rival Eastern Illinois. The Redbirds are halfway through a four-game home stand to open the season and play seven of their 11 games at Hancock Stadium, where they are unbeaten over the last two years. Coach Brock Spack’s opportunistic defense, the smooth transition of Indiana transfer quarterback Tre Roberson and the running of Marshaun Coprich should have people in Normal, Illinois, thinking about a playoff season.

North Carolina A&T stands a one-point loss against No. 5 Coastal Carolina away from being 3-0. Saturday’s road win over Elon underscored how the Aggies might be better than their No. 40 ranking. Coach Rod Broadway has a dandy playmaker in sophomore running back Tarik Cohen.

Eastern Kentucky is quite close to getting in the Top 25, having begun play on Saturday at No. 29. By far the most successful team in Ohio Valley Conference history, the Colonels are coming off a subpar 6-6 campaign, losing their last three games.

Well, coach Dean Hood’s squad has won its first three games for the first time since 1993, the latest a 55-13 rout of Morehead State after the Colonels built a 46-0 halftime lead. They drew significant attention a week earlier with a 17-10 victory over an FBS squad, Miami of Ohio, and still have their usual solid running game behind Kentucky transfer Dy’Shawn Mobley.

SECOND AND 10

While the early-season surprises stand out, there are many other observations from Week 3. Here are 10 more:

– Missouri Valley teams will soon start beating up on each other in conference play. Surely, the rest of the FCS clearly isn’t going to hand them too many losses. Incredibly, eight of the 10 teams have winning records and the conference has been the most exciting in the nation offensively. Overall, Missouri Valley teams are 19-9, but 15-1 against FCS opponents.

– One of the Missouri Valley powers, Northern Iowa, fell just short of pulling an upset at the University of Hawaii late Saturday night, losing 27-24, but the Panthers likely will remain ranked this week after their second FBS loss. Southeastern Louisiana also tried to make a national statement at Tulane, but senior quarterback Bryan Bennett didn’t have a big game and the defending Southland Conference champion dropped to 0-19 against FBS competition since returning to football in 2003.

– Many of the best interconference matchups involve Big Sky, Missouri Valley and Southland schools. Although the games are born out of geographical necessity, they always stand out because of their frequency early in a season. This weekend, Central Arkansas-Montana State and South Dakota State-Southern Utah were great pairings to add to the list of Sam Houston State-Eastern Washington, Southern Utah-Southeastern Louisiana and Montana-North Dakota State (next Saturday).

– It’s important, but sometimes forgotten, that a team shouldn’t look ahead to an important game the following week when the game at hand counts just the same in the win-loss column. Some teams that avoided that trap a week before a key game: No. 4 Montana over South Dakota (with a visit to No. 1 North Dakota State upcoming); James Madison over Saint Francis (CAA Football opener at Villanova); Richmond over Hampton (CAA opener against New Hampshire); Eastern Kentucky over Morehead State (Ohio Valley Conference opener against UT Martin); and Western Illinois over Drake (trip to Northwestern).

– Just a hunch, but Montana and Coastal Carolina probably have inflated national rankings at No. 4 and 5, respectively. Bethune-Cookman will move up from No. 13, but the Wildcats struggled past Grambling State and probably are ranked too high as well.

– The two-quarterback system has never been received fondly by many people, but it can be effective when the signal callers offer different skill sets. Some of the higher-profile FCS teams trying to make it work this season are Central Arkansas (dual-threat Taylor Reed and passer Ryan Howard, who might have regained the top job on Saturday), Eastern Illinois (duel-threat Jalen Whitlow and passer Andrew Manley) and Richmond (Michael Strauss and Michael Rocco).

– Southern Utah (0-3) is having a difficult start to the season following last year’s first FCS playoff appearance, but junior defensive end James Cowser may still have to draw consideration for the Buck Buchanan Award. His relentless drive is commendable and his statistics match the motor. With 5.5 tackles for loss against South Dakota State, he doubled his season total to 11. Six of the last 11 Buchanan winners have come from the Big Sky Conference.

– Considering all the offensive talent returning from Fordham’s 2013 playoff squad, it was hard to imagine the storyline being anything but senior quarterback Michael Nebrich and his bevy of receivers this season. But freshman running back Chase Edmonds has stolen the spotlight in each of the No. 19 Rams’ victories. He set the school freshman rushing record against Saint Francis (while accumulating 300 all-purpose yards), then bettered his mark with 231 yards and four touchdowns in Saturday’s 54-7 dismantling of Rhode Island.

– The Pioneer Football League is looking forward to the league season because the non-scholarship conference struggles against FCS opposition. What a way for the league schedule to begin with preseason favorite San Diego falling to Jacksonville, 35-18, as Ulysses Bryant rushed for a career-high 168 yards and two touchdowns. If the Dolphins can at least split in a visit to Butler (Sept. 27) and a home game against Drake (Oct. 4), the second half of their schedule suggests a possible title and playoff bid for coach Kerwin Bell’s team.

– The Southland Conference had a terrific season last year (three playoff teams) on the heels of Sam Houston State’s back-to-back national title game appearances in 2011 and ’12. Conference play is welcomed after some tough non- conference results, but new member Abilene Christian’s 38-35 upset of FBS Troy showed it’s well suited for its rise from Division II. Southeastern Louisiana and McNeese State are clearly Top-10 material for the rest of the regular season.

WEEK 3 SCOREBOARD

A roundup of games in The Sports Network FCS Top 25 can be found at http://tinyurl.com/lqwupg4.

The full FCS scoreboard can be found at http://tinyurl.com/lqwupg4.

STOCK RISING, STOCK FALLING

Stock Rising – North Dakota State, if that is possible. The program that is the face of the FCS got unbelievable exposure yet again by ESPN’s broadcast of “College GameDay” for the second straight year in Fargo. Why wouldn’t recruits want to join the Bison program?

Stock Falling – The longest winning streak in the FCS more than just ended. In fact, Sam Houston State’s playoff resume might have suffered fatal damage with a 47-21 loss to Colorado State-Pueblo, the No. 2 team in Division II. The Bearkats had won 23 straight games at Bowers Stadium. A 1-3 record isn’t what anybody had in mind for coach K.C. Keeler’s first season in Huntsville, Texas.

OTHERWORDLY

Quarterback Sean Goldrich had 486 yards of total offense (the second-highest total of the FCS season) and threw for four touchdowns, to power No. 7 New Hampshire to a 45-27 victory over Lehigh. The senior completed 27-of-40 pass attempts for a career-high 422 yards.

PROJECTED PLAYOFF FIELD

North Carolina A&T/Montana State winner at No. 1 seed North Dakota State

Tennessee State/Northern Iowa winner at No. 8 seed Montana

Fordham/Southern Illinois winner at No. 5 seed McNeese State

Coastal Carolina/Liberty winner at No. 4 Villanova

Furman/William & Mary winner at No. 6 seed New Hampshire

Jacksonville/Bethune-Cookman winner at No. 3 seed Southeastern Louisiana

Richmond/Chattanooga winner at No. 7 seed Jacksonville State

Sacred Heart-South Dakota State winner at No. 2 seed Eastern Washington

A LOOK AHEAD

The biggest matchups in Week 4 next Saturday pit FCS powers against each other. No. 4 Montana, whose program has won two national titles and appeared in seven championship games, will make a much-anticipated visit to No. 1 North Dakota State, the three-time defending national champion. Also, No. 2 Eastern Washington will visit No. 17 Montana State in what is considered a non- conference game and won’t count toward the Big Sky standings.

Conference games become more frequent, though. Among the best ones are James Madison at Villanova and New Hampshire at Richmond in the CAA, Tennessee Tech at Tennessee State and Eastern Kentucky at UT Martin in the OVC, and Southern at Prairie View A&M in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. In addition, the Grambling State visits Jackson State 11 months after forfeiting a SWAC matchup between the two teams during GSU’s player boycott last October.

Among other key non-conference games are Holy Cross at Harvard (Friday night), Monmouth at Duquesne, Bucknell at Sacred Heart, Northern Arizona at South Dakota, Princeton at San Diego, Coastal Carolina at Florida A&M, Wofford at Gardner-Webb, Bryant at Liberty, Lafayette at William & Mary and Furman at South Carolina State in a rematch from last year’s FCS playoffs.

There are 11 more FCS-FBS matchups, including Southern Illinois at Purdue, Western Illinois at Northwestern, Maine at Boston College, Bethune-Cookman at UCF and Southern Utah at Fresno State.

Categorized in: NCAA Football